Japan Studio led Sony’s new IP charge at Gamescom by putting forward not one but two exciting new titles.

One of these new games was Rain, a PSN title in which you play an invisible boy who can only be seen when wet. It’s an intriguing idea and it looks lovely. The other game was Puppeteer, a gorgeous platformer set inside a magical puppet theatre. Both titles are unlike anything we’ve seen before from Japan Studio.

They are a sign that Allan Becker’s touch is “still very much alive”, according to David Jaffe, creator of God of War and Twisted Metal. Jaffe’s comment comes as part of a TwitLonger post which begins, “Very proud this week of Allan Becker, my former Sony boss and the man who started Sony Santa Monica.”

“Soul Sacrifice is born from my own personal experience as a game designer”, Keiji Inafune told PS3 Attitude following an intimate behind-the-curtain look at his upcoming PS Vita title, his first game since leaving Capcom.

Gamescom 2012 is well under way, so we thought we’d start sharing some of our shots from the showfloor.

Sony found some time in between firing out new games at its Tuesday Gamescom presentation to announce some exciting news regarding PS Plus.

It really exists. Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified actually exists. We were told it was coming, long before PS Vita launched. But the secrecy surrounding this title left us in doubt.

Did Sony accidental tell us they secured a Call of Duty but forgot to check with Activision? Was that embarrassing logo moment at E3 just a cover, an attempt to secure more time?

Darksiders II opens with Death charging up a frozen keep on Despair, his fearsome steed, hacking the few enemies brave enough to get in his way. The next stage sees him running up and across walls, clinging to pillars, shimmying at speed across hand holds and taking out ice skeletons with ferocious combos. A boss battle soon follows, which is surprisingly more intense than what you’d normally expect at this early stage.

When you see two Tekken players moving with the rhythm of the fight, do see carefully considered footwork, precise execution of combos and perfectly timed blocks? Or is it all just one confusing blur, which you presume could only be caused by the two players bashing their pads?

GRID 2 was finally announced today by Codemasters after two years in pre-production. Due out in 2013, the sequel to 2008′s Race Driver: GRID promises “high-impact aggressive thrills” for a “cinematic race experience”.

THQ has dropped Guillermo del Toro’s inSANE and moved away from casual and social games in an effort to refocus resources towards its core games market.

Jason Rubin, president of THQ, made the announcement during an investor’s call on Monday, where he also revealed positive first quarter figures.

The PC cult favourite, Metro 2033, could have been better had THQ realised the game’s quality at an earlier stage of development, says the company’s head of global communication. However, Huw Benyon says the sequel will get the extra support its predecessor never got.

Top developers have a lot in common with championship winning F1 teams: they both know the value of a good engine.

The F1 team may have great drivers but this means nothing if they’re sent out in a heavy, unreliable car. Likewise, the most creative game devs will always struggle if they’re asked to work with a shoddy game engine.

This new Assassin’s Creed 3 trailer shows off Ubisoft’s new engine, AnvilNext, and its confident tone suggests they think they have a winner.

An overperforming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has helped Ubisoft to post improved sales figures for the last fiscal quarter, which ended on 30 June.

Sales during the quarter came in at €131m, up 27.2% compared with the €103m recorded for the same period last year.

When you think of Mad Catz, the chances are you probably think of fight sticks, turbo controllers and other hardcore peripherals. It’s less likely that you will think of Mad Catz as a games publisher, but the company is branching out into publishing these days.

On Friday 13 July, PS3 Attitude went along to the Mad Catz Unveiled community event at the Penthouse on Leicester Square, London.

It was an enjoyable event, attended by lots of fans. It showcased the company’s latest hardware and there were competitions with excellent prizes up for grabs.

At San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, David Cage made up a panel alongside Ellen Page and a new face to discuss Beyond: Two Souls.

During the session, the three answered questions from the audience on a variety of topics related to the making of the game.

The first six months of the year are always quiet due to publishers holding back their big guns to catch the Christmas bonanza. However, at this stage of the generation, doubts begin to creep into our minds and we find ourselves closely monitoring the games industry, furiously checking for a pulse.

Lightning already defied expectations once by striking twice, and if comments from Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 director, Motomu Toriyama, are anything to go by, she may well strike again.

Seth Killian, the former Capcom community manager and fighting game adviser, has joined Sony Santa Monica Studio as lead game designer. In his new role, Killian will work on design with Sony’s outside studios, which includes Giant Sparrow, Fun Bits Interactive, thatgamecompany, SuperBot and Queasy.

Sony today announced that it entered an agreement on 30 June to acquire Gaikai. Sony, who is forking out approximately $380m for the company, is planning to use its cloud-streaming technology establish its own cloud gaming service.